A review by filia_secunda
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

adventurous funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Very fun old-fashioned historical adventure (think Kim by Rudyard Kipling or Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson), written with some new-fashioned ideas that rarely feel out-of-place or annoying. You can tell the author has done his research, and he may be stretching history a bit but isn't breaking it. If you accept the right historical theories it's really possible that these wacky far-flung characters could all meet, all adventure together, and all be Jewish. Loved the prose too - it's the long ornate sentences that are proper for this kind of old-timey action-adventure novel, and it rarely has the clumsiness it might have in the hands of some modern-day writers. The author's afterword where he talks about the nature of adventure, the confusion some people felt at a "literary" author writing a book like this, and the reactions to thebook's working title (Jews with Swords) is to die for.
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